Giving Thanks and Thankful Giving: In Pursuit of an African Understanding

Summary

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In African culture, giving thanks is both a verbal expression and a social practice. The saying of thanks is imbued with a sense of the Divine, the sacred, and is ultimately a spiritual and ethical act. Thus, to say thanks in the languages of ancient Egyptian (Dua-en netjer en-eK), Zulu (Siyabonga), and Yoruba (A dupe) is to say implicitly or explicitly, "We thank God for you." Both "dua" and "bonga" also mean "praise" and suggest a reverence or deep respect that is given thru God or the Divine to the person(s) addressed. Moreover, to thank a person is to praise or thank God for that person, as well as for what she or he has done. Therefore, we thank the Divine for a person's goodness and the good they bring and do.

Finally, in the African worldview, giving and showing thanks is a contribution to the future in a real and positive way. In the sacred teachings of our Zulu ancestors, it is said "ukubonga ukuzibekela," i.e., "to give thanks is to provide for our future." The word "bekela" literally means store up goods or good things for the future. Thus, to be thankful is to do good in the world. Nakhetefmut says in the [Husia] that he did Maat, i.e., right, justice and good, in the world for he "knew that the result of doing good deeds is a storehouse which our children will find afterwards."

Again, it is important to remember thanksgiving is not simply a holiday or special day set aside, but an ongoing praise, appreciation and reciprocal giving in return for the good given to us. In Zulu ethical wisdom, there is the saying "KwaZulu, sibonga ngezandla zombili" which means "In Zululand, we give thanks with both hands." To give thanks with both hands is to give generously, willingly and with great gratitude, praise and appreciation for the good we've been given, get daily and will receive in the future. It is to give thanks joyfully by thankful giving and doing good in an ongoing practice that praises the Divine and the giver, reaffirms the sacred significance of the act, and forges for us and future generations, a constantly expanding realm of mutual giving and sharing of good.

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Giving Thanks and Thankful Giving: In Pursuit of an African Understanding

Last week the larger society celebrated another occasion for compulsive consumption and seductive sales and called it thanksgiving. Indeed, the corporations and smaller businesses had been busy early turning adults into toy-adoring juveniles who anxiously camp out overnight nearby, stampede into stores, and shove and ...

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